Random Ramble: The Bargain Bin

For Christmas, my dad gave me a $25 gift-card to a local record store chain, Rasputin Music. Dad apparently tends to forget that letting me loose in a place like Rasputin with a gift-card is equivalent to letting a bull loose in a china shop. I, like many others out there, can spend hours in a place like Rasputin. It’s especially bad when given money that is specifically for spending there. Because Rasputin has something that sets it apart from all but a handful of similarly independent record stores: a massive and ridiculously low-priced bargain CD section.

The act of going to a record store is a lost concept to a lot of people in this digital age. Everything you could ever want is floating out there on the interwebs somewhere. Hell, I admit that as I write this blog about CDs I’m listening to a playlist on Spotify (which I gladly pay for, because it’s amazing). However there is something about browsing through the $3-or-less bins that can encourage you to pick up something you might not remember to listen to online.

For example: with that $25 gift-card from my dad, I was able to pick up 17 records after a two-hour session browsing the “Buy 3, Get 1 Free” clearance bins and the $0.50 closeout bins (and I still have $3 to spare on that gift-card!). Of those 17 albums, only two of them were by bands from which I owned other material. The other 15 were records by bands that I had heard of, and either had meant to check out or kept forgetting about. Some were older bands whose catalogs are mostly out of print, others were newer bands that I was surprised to find their records in the cheapskate areas already. A few were things that had been accidentally overlooked in my attempts to absorb as much music as I possibly can. All of it was music I was excited find and even more excited to hear.

If you have a record store in your area that carries used CDs or vinyl, I’d highly recommend making monthly pilgrimages to rummage through and see if anything strikes your fancy. It’s a great way to both support local businesses (especially in a time when so many record stores are closing their doors) and to support your own hopefully insatiable thirst for new music.

…and if you’re curious, here’s what I picked up with that gift-card:
Audio Karate – Lady Melody
Better Luck Next Time – Start from Scratch
Broadway Calls – Good Views, Bad News
CIV – Thirteen Day Getaway
Daggermouth – Stallone
Dredg – El Cielo
Earth Crisis – Gomorrah’s Season Ends
Hot Rod Circuit – Sorry About Tomorrow
Hot Water Music – Caution
Millencolin – No Cigar
No Motiv – And The Sadness Prevails
Quicksand – Manic Compression
Slick Shoes – Rusty
Stabbing Westward – Darkest Days
Strife – Angermeans
This Providence – Who Are You Now?
Warzone/Cause For Alarm – split EP